


The burnt-out ends of smoky days

by theskyskye



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Azkaban, Godric's Hollow, Headcanon, Light Angst, M/M, Not so happy ending, but only a little sorry, even im sad, i love my english teacher, sorry - Freeform, sorry about the title, sorta au sorta not, they're a little bit younger than cannon, tryin real hard but also this account is probs gonna be dead now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 15:13:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19444042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theskyskye/pseuds/theskyskye
Summary: Gellert is finally arrested. He leaves a vault of *stuff* for Albus. Sad times are happening.Title from "Preludes" by T.S. Eliot





	The burnt-out ends of smoky days

The ministry had, for some godforsaken reason, decided that the fountain at Godric’s Hollow was a perfect place to take Grindelwald. Of course they would play with his feelings. The unfortunate side effect was that it played with Albus’ as well. He was sitting on a bench facing the fountain. He’d told Gellert to be there at two. It was fifteen minutes ‘till. Gellert was always early. Albus expected him to have arrived by now, or at least soon. Then again, he probably wasn’t too keen on partaking in the inevitable fight. A small part of him was hoping maybe Gellert was somewhere safe, where he would stay out of trouble and live happily and quietly. He’d only ever wanted Gellert to be happy. But Albus knew Gellert better than that. Gellert had to see this come to an end, one way or another. It absolutely broke his heart, but Albus knew Gellert would always end up on the wrong side of the law. Albus was so deep in thought he nearly missed the quiet ‘ _ pop _ ’ of who he assumed was Gellert apparating in. He didn’t dare move. A warm hand came to rest on his shoulder. He looked up and met beautiful heterochromic eyes that seemed to stare straight into his soul. Gellert didn’t speak. He simply rounded the arm of the bench and took a seat next to Albus. He sat much closer than necessary, because of course he would do that. Albus was surprised he hadn’t spoken yet. Gellert was usually only quiet when they had to talk about  _ emotions _ and  _ feelings _ . For some reason it didn’t cross Albus’ mind that they might be talking about such things.

“I really don’t want to do this. I know I have to, and I’m going to no matter what, but I really don’t want to,” Albus finally broke the silence. Gellert seemed to think for a long moment. He let out a deep sigh.

“I know,” Albus couldn’t help but think that it sounded like Gellert actually  _ didn’t  _ know, but before he could comment on it, Gellert was pressing their shoulders closer, reaching for the Albus’ hand. Gellert took Albus’ fist and placed it on his other open palm, coaxing him to release his grip. Albus had been holding on tothe pendant so tightly it had left marks. They both stared at it.

“And when will the ministry be barging in on us?” Gellert asked suddenly, near jokingly. 

“Too soon I think,” Albus replied. The pendant had started levitating again, just mere inches above their connected hands.

“I about had a heart attack as soon as I realized it was gone,” Gellert paused almost awkwardly, as if he didn’t mean to say that out loud, but he decided to continue. “I haven’t let it out of my sight in years, Albus.” He finished, voice quieting. Albus stood, grasping Gellerts hand to bring him with. The bloodpact continued to follow perfectly in between them. Albus drew his wand and turned to face Gellert, him only seconds behind. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to just grab it and run?” Albus asked. He knew it wouldn’t plant any new ideas in Gellert’s head. Of course Gellert had thought about doing that. Gellert just gave him the tiniest of smiles and shook his head almost imperceptibly. Albus nodded and continued. He brought their still joined hands up, just like they had when they made the pact. He could feel the almost invisible scar left from the making of the pact like it was new again. He held his wand tightly and saw Gellert mirror his actions just as he closed his eyes.

“ _ Clink! _ ” Albus was expecting something much more dramatic. The pendant surrounding the blood droplets disintegrated to the ground. The blood droplets continued to swirl around each other as they were pushed and pulled farther away from each other. The two droplets then seemed to race at their entwined hands. Both him and Gellert released their hold of each other and looked at were the droplets disappeared to. He saw the scar start to fade. Albus let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. He wasn’t aware of how close he was to crying either. 

“Does this mean you don’t love me?” Gellert asked lowly, his voice steady despite the clear hurt that formed the words.

“Gellert, I never stopped,” Albus answered- and oh man was he done for now, little did he know the mere thought of Gellert believing he didn’t love him was enough to make the tears start flowing. He was a grown man for goodness sake! And the ministry would be hopping in soon, and Gellert must think he’s insane or something. 

Gellert cocked his head to the side ever so slightly, as if her were contemplating that answer. 

“Neither did I,” and Gellert was pulling Albus in quickly, bordering on rough. He kissed him like it had been twenty years since the last time, and it had. Albus kissed back, matching Gellert in passion. Albus strengthened his inner resolve. He knew this was the best way, as much as he hated it. What surprised him most was that Gellert didn’t fight it. Albus slowly drew Gellert’s hands together in between them with one hand, his wand still securely in the other. He broke away for what could have seemed like a breath and whispered a second long incantation, and the handcuffs clicked into place. Gellert laughed breathily. 

“I knew you would do that,”

“Then why did you let me?” 

“Because I have to see this to the end, and because I knew you would never forgive me if I made you kill me,” Albus felt another tear rolling down his cheek at those words.

“I love you,”

“I love you too,” and they were kissing again. Albus took a hold of Gellerts bound hands as they kissed. He started hearing the ‘ _ pop pop pop _ ’ of people apparting around him. Gellert broke the kiss this time, and looked at Albus. Albus looked back. 

Suddenly they were being pulled apart, and Albus just managed not to scream at them to just let Gellert be. Gellert gave him one last look as they turned him away and disapparated. He barely heard Theseus talking to him, but he was able to keep a calm face long enough for Theseus to let him go home on his own. As soon as he apparated in his house, he collapsed on top of the bed. He was tired and emotionally drained and he felt like crying for three weeks. As he rolled over onto his back, he distantly felt a weight lift from his jacket and heard something drop to the floor. He ignored it for probably two hours, but was finally able to work up the energy to lean of the edge of the bed and look to the floor boards.

It was the elder wand. 

Gellert must have slipped his wand into Albus’ jacket at some point.  _ When? Sneaky bastard.  _ He took the wand carefully, like it would blink out of existence, and stared at it for a good long time. He placed it in his bedside drawer and flopped back onto the bed. He felt a quiet urge to remake the bloodpact scar that he was so familiar with. He opened his palm to stare at the spot it had once been. A physical reminder of his and Gellert’s love now gone. When the shimmering first started he thought it was because he was crying again, but his eyes didn’t feel wet. The shimmering intensified, and he stared harder at his open hand. A heavy and intricate skeleton key started to materialize. His first thought was  _ now how did he manage that?,  _ and his second thought was that it was a key to a vault in Gringotts, and he wasn’t sure if he could ever force himself to open it.

Four days later, Albus found himself in front of a vault. It wasn’t too big, but it was one of the more heavily guarded ones deep in the damp caverns. He took the key and unlocked the door. Inside was an ornate chest. It looked heavy. He told the goblin he was going to withdraw the deposit and close the account. The goblin helped him hoist the chest back up to the main departure area, where he disapparated with the chest back to his house. He left the chest sitting in the middle of the entry way for another two days before he finally opened it. It had a lock, but it was left open. He lifted the heavy cover and inside found a small jewelry box and something wrapped in butchers paper with a twine string around it. Along with that were stacks and stacks of parchment, clearly charmed to stay particularly organized. Albus lifted a stack and flicked through it very quickly. They were letters. Upon further inspection, he saw that at the top, each had a date and location, and each was addressed to him. He started with the first letter.

_ Lieber Albus,  _

_ I did not want to leave you, but your brother would be insistent that I go to Nurmengard for your sister's passing. I am truly sorry for your loss. I do not want to sound too defensive, but I’m sure it was not my spell that killed her. You may wonder why I ran anyway- it’s because no one will believe me if I tell them it wasn’t me. Your brother would make sure of that. In any case, I miss you. I will try to come see you as soon as I can. I realize that in my haste to pack and leave, I took your second favorite pair of warm socks by accident. You know, the ones I got you for last Christmas when you kept complaining that your feet were cold and would try to warm them by sticking them on my legs? And then you said your night pair I had gotten you the year before wouldn’t work during the day because they were called the ‘night’ pair for a reason. Yes that pair. I’m afraid I will have to postpone sending them to you, as I am in severe lack of owls and do not have enough money on me right now to send a package. I hope you are doing okay. Make sure to take care of yourself. Really, I will be in touch again and I will see you again. I love you. _

_ Gellert _

Albus mumbled to himself fondly “Make sure to take care of myself? Look whos talking.” He got an inkling of what might be wrapped in the butcher paper. He placed the letter back in its designated pile and picked up the little package. He untied the twine and let the paper fall open. It was his second favorite pair of warm socks.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


It had taken Albus months-almost a year-to finish all the letters. He would go through phases of reading about twenty in an hour, to re-reading all the ones he already read, to ignoring the chest for weeks on end. He had eventually moved it from the front hall to his room, where he replaced his old chest at the foot of the bed with it. He was almost afraid to finish the letters. He sat down in front of the chest like usual and unfolded the final piece of paper.

_ Lieber Albus, _

_ I do believe I am about to see you for the last time, unless you fancy visiting Nurmengard. I have no illusions about what’s going to happen next. You won’t kill me, but you won’t let me get away-that is- the ministry won’t let me get away. I’m sure if I tried hard enough you’d let me go. I could very easily hide somewhere for 20 years and bring you with. It could be just like before.  _

_ I’ve worn the blood pact constantly from the day I fled to the day that annoyingly cute niffler lifted it off me. It seems redundant to break the blood pact, because I don’t think we are going to fight anyway, unless you’ve changed more than I can see. It honestly hurts that you want to break it, but I forgive you. I don’t know what will happen to the pendant, and I’m not sure what I want to happen. _

_ As sure as I am that this is the last I will be seeing of you, I still hope we can meet again one day and leave our differences far, far behind. I’ve left a box in the chest. Goodbye Albus.  _

_ I love you. _

_ Gellert _

Albus shook his head and reached for the box. He hadn’t opened it yet, he felt that Gellert would tell him when it was time. At the same time that it made sense the box would be for the last letter, he also had half hoped it was for one of the earlier ones. His heart raced away as he lifted the lid, vaguely wondering why he felt so nervous. Inside, on a soft black cushion, was the bloodpact. An exact copy of the bloodpact, of course, not the original. Gellert had even given blood to its center. Albus was already starting to figure a way to put in a drop of his own. Knowing Gellert to well, he lifted the cushion out of the bottom half of the box and took the folded paper that rested there. A final letter. 

_ Lieber Albus, _

_ Of course I do know full well how you would implant your drop of blood in the pendant, but I trust you to be able to figure it out on your own. I wish for you to carry us as long as I carried us. I hope that isn’t too morbid of me. I never stopped loving you and I never will stop loving you. I love you. _

_ Gellert _

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> hey yall this is my first work (lorge yikes) and rn im typing how i text... horrendous right? anyway if you see anything to be fixed like grammar or spelling or just how to make it sound better please leave a comment! and thanks for reading :)))))  
> (not all of this is technically correct, figured i'd put in a disclaimer... i just say what i feel and apparently 4am me decided to be sad and stuff)  
> It may be a while before any new stuff comes up, I'm working on something big but it is going pretty slow, thanks!!


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